Football was a hit at the Olympics
Football jerseys were one of the most popular outfit among fans at Paris 2024
@paris2024
Paris2024
Who said football at the Olympics is irrelevant? After all, how could a tournament be relevant when only under-23 teams are admitted, with many players unable to participate due to their clubs’ denials, while in every other sport athletes bring their very best, reaching emotional peaks, attracting huge audiences, and striving to capture the world’s attention for their one golden moment every four years?
Yet, it’s still football – this time at Paris 2024, in one of the most iconic and romantic venues possible: the Parc des Princes. And still, for the only time in four years, the world seems to be looking elsewhere.
Anyway, football is always football; even if you kick it out the front door, it finds a way back in through the rear entrance. And while football may seem to lose at the Parc des Princes, it wins everywhere else: in every Olympic venue, every fan zone, and every corner of the city. Although national teams may play an overlooked and irrelevant tournament out in the Paris banlieue, fans wearing their country’s football jerseys are busy cheering for their compatriots as they win medals in every other sport.
Bloke Core
Football deserves credit for bringing national kits into the mainstream. Now, they’ve become a go-to outfit for any sports event involving national teams – especially for events held only once every four years.
Many of these sports disappear from the public eye in between and have official kits that are hard to find and quite expensive. So, why should fans invest in new national gear when they can just wear the football jersey they bought for one of the recent World Cups?
And that’s exactly what happened in Paris. You could easily spot a fan wearing a ’90s Gullit Netherlands jersey at the edge of the cycling track, hoping to see his idol Mathieu van der Poel outpedal his Belgian rival Remco Evenepoel.
Meanwhile, a Belgian supporter in a ‘Red Devils’ (not Manchester United) shirt hoped for the opposite outcome.
Or a young American girl in an indoor arena, hand over her heart, listening to her national anthem in her USMNT jersey.
Or a fan in a Boca Juniors shirt waving an Argentine flag at Place de la Concorde during the skateboard competition.
Or a teenager in a vintage Zidane jersey from before he was even born, watching the big screen at Club France.
Or an elderly woman wearing a sombrero and the iconic green Mexico jersey, shouting encouragement to young Mexican women competing in the foot race.
And all of this pales in comparison to the appearance of an Algeria football jersey in one of the most iconic moments in Olympic history – a moment that transcends sports.
It’s the moment when Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, lifted onto her coach’s shoulders, waves her national flag high overhead. And what is the man in the front row, capturing this historic moment, wearing? His Algerian national football shirt.
A single photo could hardly capture the power of football better. Football is woven into our culture in ways we aren’t even aware of. It’s always present when history is made. And even in those rare moments when it’s not taking center stage, it’s still there in the background.
